As businesses await word from the governor on when some of them might be allowed to reopen, one Marshalltown business is seeing success during the pandemic.
Black Tire Bike Company is open and even with RAGBRAI postponed a year, many Iowans are looking to bicycles as a way to escape the house. Owner Matt Gerstandt says there’s growing interest in children’s bikes, base models — and especially gravel bikes.
“This is a huge aspect of our business that has grown exponentially,” Gerstandt says. “As cars have more screens and this and that where you can get preoccupied, our road riders aren’t feeling quite as safe on the roadways. So what they’re doing is, in the last five years, they’ve started really gravitating towards the 10,000 miles of gravel roads in Iowa.”